Section B - transmits audio only! If you havn't ordered the USB in the car then it will just be a wire with that on both ends which you require. One end goes into the ipod/iphone headphone socket, the other into the car. (Does not support data on the screen or changing tracks from the stero etc).

Section C - USB which plugs into the usb port for those who have it. This allows data to be pulled from the iphone/ipod regarding the tracks and artists etc, so will show up on the car screen. It also allows information to be sent to the ipod/iphone asking to change tracks etc.

OUTCOME: Only those with the USB functionality will have the music information (title, track, artist) on the screen of the car. Only those with USB will be able to change track from steering wheel / dashboard.

I'm using the Y cable, from Ford, and the car is brand new. The Nano functions fully - great. But the car does not recognise the Mini as an iPod, only as a USB device, and fails to find any music on it. Meanwhile the Mini just says Do Not Disconnect.

I can play music from the Mini if I connect only the LineIn, not the USB - but of course that means not only that the user interface is poor but more importantly that the Mini is not charging.

On the way to NGH tonight the audio kept cutting out. It continued playing, the time counting down, but no audio. I tried to play it without the USB cable in and just the 3.5mm jack, but there was still no audio.

In iTunes (on the main iTunes header) go Edit, Preferences, General Tab and then click Import Settings, in the drop down menu for “Import using” select MP3 Encoder (if that’s the format you want) and then click OK to save the settings

Select the songs you want to convert (personally I used Edit, Select All)

Then this time go to Advanced (on the main iTunes header) and create MP 3 version – This then converts songs to a different file format while keeping a copy of the original (but I don’t think you can't convert iTunes Store purchases as they are protected so you might need different software not sure why this would bother Apple as you have already bought it from them ?)

Then find your iTunes folder or do a search for .MP3 files in your iTunes folder and then just copy them onto your USB stick

Oh forgot to say that whilst it makes an MP3 copy of your files it also keeps the original copy in whatever format it was in too, just in case you wanted it, thats why you need to do an MP3 search, let me know if it did what you wanted or not ta

Well, tried my iPod Touch in the Fiesta today. Connected via USB only - the white Apple cable. Display comes up with all the navigation features but no noise comes out. So had to revert to using the Line In.

It sounds from this thread that that is what I should have expected. But before I got the car I deliberately took my iPod and the white Apple iPod -> USB cable to the dealers and it worked in a Fiesta that was in the showroom - navigation and sound just with USB connected to the iPod.

Wierd.

Will probably stick with a USB drive anyway - the girlfriend uses the iPod mainly, so whenever the iPod is in the car she'll be in the car as well, so she can control it. Trying to scroll down a full collection's worth of iPod music library using the car's controller would probably take the length of any journey and be somewhat distracting. I'll stick with USB drives with a subset of the music on.

I ummed and ahhed about getting a Y cable but in the end spent £15 on a 16gb Sandisk USB drive. IMO, the USB is the easiest option if your music, like mine, is all mp3 and independent of the iTunes library.

Also a lot easier to just unplug it when you park and drop it in the door bin. The clever system even remembers the last track when you plug back in

I ummed and ahhed about getting a Y cable but in the end spent £15 on a 16gb Sandisk USB drive. IMO, the USB is the easiest option if your music, like mine, is all mp3 and independent of the iTunes library.

Also a lot easier to just unplug it when you park and drop it in the door bin. The clever system even remembers the last track when you plug back in

Can you create playlists/favourites on the USB drive or does it just list tracks in A-Z format?Can you also browse by artist/album/song track/genre etc, like an ipod??

I've contemplated getting one, but TBH, i haven't used either ipod much since i paid over £400 for the pair a few years ago, and i'm still waiting to get my money's worth! (i missed getting a Focus ST by about a month becasue there was no news back when the facelift came out when they would start building them with the USB option, so i went and ordered it without one becasue i was too impatient to wait )

I do like the small size of the mini USB drives and will probably get one in the future

Can you create playlists/favourites on the USB drive or does it just list tracks in A-Z format?Can you also browse by artist/album/song track/genre etc, like an ipod??

I've contemplated getting one, but TBH, i haven't used either ipod much since i paid over £400 for the pair a few years ago, and i'm still waiting to get my money's worth! (i missed getting a Focus ST by about a month becasue there was no news back when the facelift came out when they would start building them with the USB option, so i went and ordered it without one becasue i was too impatient to wait )

I do like the small size of the mini USB drives and will probably get one in the future

You can create playlists for a USB drive with various software programs but to be honest it looks too much ag to me My music is in a folder called FORD1 containing sub folders for each artist and in them the albums. The display lets you browse everything but genre which suits me. One thing though, there's no gapless playback like an iPod, so something like Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon doesn't flow like it should

You can create playlists for a USB drive with various software programs but to be honest it looks too much ag to me My music is in a folder called FORD1 containing sub folders for each artist and in them the albums. The display lets you browse everything but genre which suits me. One thing though, there's no gapless playback like an iPod, so something like Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon doesn't flow like it should

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely stick with my ipod for the time being then, but the idea of a mini USB drive is not lost on me!

One thing i've considered is a little ipod shuffle hidden into the centre console somehow, but that might involve too much fiddling with removing bits of plastic to hide the Y cable